I’ve been noticing a lot of other free gas promotions–from all kinds of products and local supermarkets. I don’t think this is really significant, it’s just some opportunistic (pathetic in Chrysler’s case) marketing that might sell a few vehicles or cases of beer but won’t mean very much. The cartoonist really has it right, Chrysler is getting very close to being history. Chrysler introduced the minivan and owned that market for awhile, and Ford’s Taurus was “America’s car” for nearly all the late 80s, absolutely wasted opportunities now. Although I want to make a prediction: Toyota has peaked. GM and Ford are going to chip away at Toyota’s North American market share the next few years.

From Dick Locher of the Chicago Tribune comes a cartoon complement to Judith Warner’s essay in the Times last Friday, declaring that SUVs have outlived any "utility" owners may once have derived from them.